Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 9 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• 18% of Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd is held by Institutions

Every investor in Sanan Optoelectronics Co.,Ltd (SHSE:600703) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 44% to be precise, is retail investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Private companies, on the other hand, account for 32% of the company's stockholders.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd. The company's largest shareholder is Fujian San'an Group Co., Ltd., with ownership of 30%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 5.9% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.9% by the third-largest shareholder.

We did some more digging and found that 9 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Sanan Optoelectronics Co.,Ltd in their own names. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own CN¥77m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 44% stake in Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 32%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Sanan OptoelectronicsLtd has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.